Bargaining with taxi drivers?

SailorSam

A private hire car will not always give you the best deal.
I can't speak for every part of the country but we had 'trap 1' and 'trap 2' on the clock. Trap 1 was normal fare, trap 2 was clock plus a quarter and would come into effect after midnight or on bank holidays. So Christmas day would be clock and quarter all day, a private hire car could be unregulated and charge whatever he wanted and may in fact double or triple his standard charge if he thought people would pay.

rev_henry

I often have this debate over whether to get a private hire or a black cab with my friends at 3am after a night out, and I really don't know the answer. Private hire I think is meant to be cheaper but never seems to be, except occasionally when it is much cheaper. They do have meters but obviously they can set them at whatever rate they want.

Black cabs obviously just have their set rates, although the last one I took undercharged me because he 'didn't want me paying more than my friends were' as I was the last out the cab. Thus I generally prefer black cabs because they can actually drive properly and are friendly and professional, but I never know which one will be cheaper...